Stella of Akrotiri: Deminon

Deminon

Love can last a thousand lifetimes when you're an Immortal... or so they thought.

What's become of the Immortal Darius? His wife, Stella, worries about his fate as she rules over their city-state of Deminon, especially when she learns he's been the victim of treachery. She'll do anything to get him back.

Enslaved as a traitor to Rome, Darius is forced to fight gladiators as part of the funeral rites of powerful Romans. His years of experience on the battlefield serve him well in the arena—until he's forced to fight Marcus—a younger, stronger gladiator who is unaware of his own immortality.

Sure he's about to suffer a defeat by the hand of Marcus, Darius is forced to make a decision that will change his future and Stella's—preserve his essence by allowing his body to die so that he can live on in Marcus. His two-thousand years of memories and life experiences should be powerful enough to overcome the essence of the untested Immortal. Allow him to return to Stella and resume their life together, even if she won't immediately recognize him.

But Marcus isn't giving up so easily. Especially when he meets Stella.

Will Marcus help Darius take revenge on the one whose deceit led to his arrest on charges of treason? Or will Darius' essence slowly be subsumed, the memories of his nearly two-thousand-year lifespan—and of Stella—fading away in the mind of Marcus?

These Immortals once had all the time in the world. Now it's suddenly of the essence.

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Stella regarded Marcus Ortelius from where she stood just outside her chambers. Candlelight cast the silhouette of her body in the opening left by the secret door, the shape made eerie by the filmy dressing gown that still hung from her shoulders.

If she hadn't been so angry with the gladiator, she would have simply closed the door, barred it, and allowed him to find out the hard way that, short of falling to his death on the rocks below, there was no easy escape from where he stood.
But she wanted a word with the thick man. Wanted to be sure he understood his only chance at freedom wasn't going to come from Augustus of Assyria.

And besides all of that, he was Darius. Although why the older Immortal hadn't seen to stopping the younger Immortal from learning first-hand she couldn't die, Stella didn't know.

Perhaps it was time she find out.

She was about to demand an explanation, but another possibility entered her mind.
Had his attempt on her life been done as a means of proof?

The younger Immortal had vanquished Darius in the arena. Perhaps he didn't believe in immortality for that very reason. By allowing Marcus to kill her, Darius was merely teaching his host a lesson.

At her expense.

She lifted a hand to her throat. Although it no longer hurt, the memory of how his weight had crushed it was hard to shake. Especially as he stared at her in disbelief and then slowly dropped to his knees.
Had he a sword in hand, she was sure he would have fallen on it.